Rediscovering My Creativity

…the 75th anniversary of the vast public works legacy of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal. The Project documents the cumulative impact of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), Public Works Administration (PWA), Works Progress Administration (WPA), and other New Deal programs on the Golden State.

It’s amazing to look at the list of projects that are still used today right here in the Bay Area: The California Academy of Sciences, Strybring Arboreum, Stern Grove, Twin Peaks Resevoir, Alameda Courthouse, San Francisco Airport; the list goes on and on.

This project is through UC Berkeley and, given how tight times are getting here in California as well as the rest of the nation, it’s time that we considered reversing the philosophy of Regan and see if we can “trickle” money upward. A new CCC or PWA or WPA could serve to mobilize our 7-1/2% (and growing) statewide and unemployed. This could be a great way to give people a job and at the same time make our public spaces “of the people and by the people.” (Ronald Regan always said that the time he spent working in the CCC was the best time of his life. Go figure.)